ZOMBIE FILM FRIDAY: Tombs of the Blind Dead (1972)

Tombs of the Blind Dead is an interesting zombie film that twists historical lore with rotting corpses. If that type of movie intrigues you, give it a shot. It’s worth the watch.

In the 13th century there existed a legion of evil knights known as the Templars, who quested for eternal life by drinking human blood and committing sacrifices. Executed for their unholy deeds, the Templars bodies were left out for the crows to peck out their eyes. Now, in modern day Portugal, a group of people stumble on the Templars abandoned monastery, reviving their rotting corpses to terrorize the land.

My Rating: B

Interesting Facts: The blind dead are never referred to as ‘Templar Knights’ or ‘Caballeros Templarios’ in the original Spanish language version (they are referred to as ‘los Guerreros de Oriente’—’The Warriors from the Orient’; during the films intro titles, the camera is looking around the “abandoned” ruins of the Templars monastery and in one shot, a van with a ladder strapped to its roof-rack can be seen going across a bridge in the background, at the top of the picture; and some distributors in the U.S. re-cut and released “La Noche del terror ciego” with the title “Revenge from Planet Ape” in an effort to capitalize on the success of the Planet of the Apes (1968) (A prologue was added in this cut version to make a dubious connection between the two films which explains that 3000 years ago a simian civilization of super intelligent apes struggled with man to gain control of the planet. In the end man conquered ape after a brutal battle which saw him destroy the ape, his culture and society. After this battle man tortured and killed all the ape prisoners by piercing their eyes with a red hot pokers. One of the prisoners, who was also the leader of the apes, vowed they would return from the dead to avenge man’s brutality at a point in time before man destroyed Earth himself. This alternate prologue is available for viewing on the Blue-Underground DVD release).